William w



l(No Model.)

W. W. ALEXANDER.

ELECTRO MECHANICAL COMBINATION LOCK.

Patented June 24, 1890.

Innen/25h70:

me Nonms versus ca., moro-uma., wumuuron. n. r.

UNITED STATES `PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM WV. ALEXANDER, OE KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO THE GILL-ALEXANDER ELECTRIC MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRO-MECHANICAL COMBINATION-LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 430,608, dated June 24, 1890.

l Application led May 17, 1889. Serial No. 311,097. (No mOClBL) To a/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, WILLIAM W. ALEXAN- DER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson,

State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electro-Meehanical Combination-Locks, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

1o Myinvention relates to devices for mechanically operating electric circuits, or electromechanical combination-locks, in which a wheel is operated in conjunction with a propelling mechanism and pawls; and the objects of my improvement are to produce a simple and reliable electro-mechanical apparatus adapted to operate various mechanisms by secret or predetermined combinations of short and long impulses transmitted by a 2o counterbalanced pivoted lever and pawl to a wheel having upon its periphery a series of rectangular face teeth at regular intervals, and a second wheel having` upon its periphery a series of rectangular faced teeth and notches at irregular intervals and a spring or gravity actuated pawl. I attain these objects by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure l is a side view of an apparatus constructed in accordance witlrmy invention, with the ratchet-lever broken away to show the pawl. Fig. 2- is a top View of the same.

Fig. 3 is a front view of the eombinatiom wheel, consisting of two disks connected by a pin projecting from the face of one disk and entering a slot in the other, said disks being shown in the relative positions that they occupy when they are to be returned to normal position, thereby making it impossible for tl1e-retaining-pawl to enter any of the notches between the teeth. Fig. 4 is a front view of the disk having in its periphery a series of teeth at irregular intervals.

In said drawings, B represents a base, upon which is mounted an electronnagnet E, re-

tained by the heel-plate I-I. Upon said base is placed a post P, to which the toggle-arm A is pivoted.

To support many of the parts of the device a back plate B2 is retained vertically upon 5o the base B. Nearly centrally of the back plate B2 there is pivoted a shaft N, having one end supported by the post B3. Said shaft N carries, rigidly attached thereto, a disk 4, having upon its periphery a series of rectangular face teeth 71.4 of uniform size, having notches of uniform size between them. To rotate the toothed disk 4L in one direction, a spring R is mounted upon the shaft of said disk, and has one end secured to said shaft, 6o

`while the other end is secured to the post B3.

To permit the disk LL to respond or be rotated only by a certain combination of short and long pulsations or strokes made by the propelling mechanism, a disk 5, provided with a predetermined combination of rectangular face teeth h5., is mounted loosely alongside of the disk 4 upon the shaft N, and has a sleeve, to which is secured the friction. wheel HG, that has its edge clasped by springs 7o h6, attached to a support 7L?, secured to the back plate To rotate the disk 4 in the opposite direction of that given by the springR, as when a series of attractions are made upon the armature A and permit said wheel to be rotated, an angular lever E is pivoted at f upon a pin projecting horizontally from the plate B2. The opposite end of said lever is united by means of the connecting-rod G with the U-shaped lever 6. 8o Each end of said lever G is loosely pivoted upon the shaft N, and it carries adjacent to its outer end a pawl P2, pivoted thereto. Said pawl is to advance the toothed disk et when the lever F begins to descend. For this purpose the pivoted end of the pawl P2 has a spring p, one end of which is secured to the lever b', which throws the curved end of theA pawl into engagement with the propelling teeth of the toothed wheel, and the latter is 9o rotated. Said pawl P2 has a T-shaped head,

the arm t of which comes at the upper end of its course in contact with an adj nstable stoppin s, secured to a post B6, which throws the curved end of the pawl out of engagement with the disk 4:, and being out of engagement it remains in that condition until the lever F is actuated upon and begins to descend. `When it has reached the lower end of its course, the arm t2 of the T-shaped head of the pawl P2 comes in contact with the stop-pin s2, adjustably secured to the post B", which t-ilts the said pawl out of engagement with the toothed disk; but immediately after said disengagement a back rotation of said toothed disk under the impulse of the hair-spring R is prevented by the retaining-pawl Q. Said pawl Q is pivoted to an arm h3, projecting from the back plate B2, and one end of said pawl is adapted to drop by gravity or under the impulse of spring q into one of the notches of the toothed disks. The long end of the lever F is normally kept elevated by pressure brought to bear against its short arm F2. Said pressure is produced by the spring S, having` one end fastened to a stationary part, as the extended part of the heel-iron I'I, and the opposite end to the lower end of the lever A2, as the upper end of said lever abuts against the short arm F2 of the lever F. As it is preferred that thelong end of said lever F and parts attached thereto should be eounterbalanced, (for delicate adjustment and to permit the device to be operated in various positions,) the lever F has a rearwardly-extended arm F3, upon which a weight XV is adjustably mounted. A spring w has one end attached to the lever F and the other to the arm h3, projecting from the back plate, to start said lever on its downward course, so that when the' lever A2 is drawn backward, as by the attraction of the electro-magnet for its armature, the lever F will descend until arrested by the stop-pin T2, in a similar manner as a stop-pin T arrests it at the upper end of its course.

To prevent the lever F from descending too rapidly when approaching the end of its course, a dash-pot K is used, into which is placed a liquid, and in said liquid a valve or loose piston D, provided with perforations cl in said piston, is retained loosely by the piston-rod D2, the upper end of which is pivoted to the end of the lever F. Upon the piston-rod is also mounted, lbut rigidly secured thereto, a disk D3, adapted to close the perforations d in the loose piston D when said disk reaches said piston, said disk and piston acting then together as an obstruction against the rapid descent of the free end of the lever F. In the ascent of the piston-rod the perforated piston D oers but little obstruction, as the perforations d are opened as soon as said piston starts on its upward course and permits the liquid to pass freely therethrough.

The lever A2 is connected to the armature vA by means of a toggle V, the purpose of which is to equalize the magnetic attraction of the electro-magnet for the armature and render the saine more uniform during the entire arc of travel of said lever A2.

In operating the device, if the toothed disks 4 and 5 and the lever F are in normal position,as shown in Figs. l and 2, and said lever is allowed to descend, it will traverse rapidly about half ot' the distance between the stoppin T and T2, and then the disk D3, secured to the piston-rod D3, will strike upon the loose disk D, which during said rapid descent has remained almost stationaryin the liquid,and then the piston-rod and the lever F will descend more slowly, and as said lever F is united to the lever (i by means of the connecting-rod G, said lever G and its pawl P2 is also carried downward, and as said pawl immediately from the start engages the teeth of the disk 4, said disk will have been propelled against the tension of the spring R the distance of one tooth or notch and the retaining-pawl Q will have entered the next notch; and nowif the lever F is made to ascend (by the action of the spring S) the disks 4 and 5,

aswell as the disk H6,will be held in that po-l sition by the pawl Q but if the lever F is allowed to descend the entire length of its course (which action would be a false move of the operator according to the presentcombination) the wheel 4 will be propelled the distance of two teeth or notches, and the retaining-pawl will rest on the wide surface or double tooth h8 of the disk 5 and cannot engage in any ot' the notches of the disk 4, and if while the pawl Q is inu that position, the pawl P2 being then disengaged, the disk 4 will immediately turn back under the impulse of the spring R; but while this takes place the disk 5 Will remain stationary (as its companion disk HG is clasped by the sprin gs h6) IOO until the pin f 5, projecting from the face of the disk, has reached the lower end of t-he slotf1 in the disk 4, as shown in Fig. 3. The disk 4 then carries the disk 5 around therewith, and the latter disk acquires a certain momentum, so that when the pin e of the disk 4 strikes the side of the post B3 the disk 5 is carried partly around until the pin f5 reaches the upper end of the slot f4 in the position shown in Fig. 1, and immediately after the lever F returns to the top of its course against the stop-pin T. Starting from this normal position, if a pressure or pulsation of short duration is made by the armature, (attracted by the electro-magnet-,) the lever descends only about one-half of its course and the pawl Q will enter notch 2 and prevent a backward motion of the disk when the armature A is released and the lever F ascends to the top of its course, sliding the pawl P2 back over the teeth. It a long pulsation is then made by the armature and the lever F is thus allowed to descend its Whole course, the pawl Q will enter notch i3 immediately before the pawl P2 is disengaged from the disk by the stop-pin S2 and prevent a back motion of the disk, the armature being released after the long attraction thereof. The lever F ascends to the top of its course against the pin T, carrying the propelling-pawl P2 back over the teeth. Now if a short attraction is made upon the armature and the lever F is allowed to descend only one-half of its course, the pawl Q will leave the notch 3 and enter the notch it TIO and preventa back motion of the disk, while -the lever returns again to its normal position.

Now if a long pulsation or attraction is made upon the armature and the lever F is thus allowed to descend its whole course, the pawl Q will enter the notch and prevent a back motion of the disk when the pawl l?2 is disengaged, as described. The lever F is then permitted to ascend to the top of its course, as before. Now if a short attraction is made upon the armature and the lever is allowed to descend only one-half of its course, the pawl Q will leave the notch and enter the next notch i and prevent a back motion of the disk when the lever returns to normal position. Nowif a long pulsation or attraction is made upon the armature and the lever is allowed to descend its whole course, the pawl Q will enter the notch t7 and prevent a backl motion of the disk. Duringthe forward movement ot the wheel 4 it has carried its contactpin C2 (which projects from its face) around until said pin is in close proximity to the contact-spring C, secured to but insulated from the post B3, and if the lever F is allowed to descend the pin C2 will be brought in contact with the con tact-spring C, thereby closing the circuit as follows: From local battery L B t-o electro-magnet E M, wire X, to contact-spring C, contact-pin C2, metallic disk 4, and thence through its shaft N and hair-spring R to the post B3, and through the wire X2 back to the other pole of the battery. Said magnet E M is adapted to attract its armature A4, which is shown in full lines as retaining the lockbolt A5 in a locked position. When the device is properly operated, the armature takes the position shown in dotted lines and allows the lock-bolt to be retracted. By the final movement made by the lever F and the rotation of the disk 4 the pawl Q will have left the last notch t7 (in which it was) and rest upon the smooth periphery of the disk 5. Now if said lever is allowed to ascend, the disk, acting under the tension of the spring R, will return to normal position, as the pawl Q cannot enter any of the notches and arrest it.

Vhenever the pawl Q is not in one of the notches, the disk 4 starts back alone the length of the slot f4. Then the disks 4 and 5 temporarily rotate back together as a single wheel and assume the position shown in Fig. 3, and the pawl Q cannot enter any of the notches, and said position of disks is changed only after the stop-pin e strikes the post B3, when the momentum of said disk 5 carries it forward the length ofthe slot f1.

If the disk 4 is propelled the distance of two teeth when the combination is arranged for one tooth, the disks will not be prevented from returning to normal position, and `the same result will be obtained if any mistake is made in any part of the combination.

llavin g now described my invention, I claim- 1. The combination of a disk 4, having upon its periphery a series of notches at regular intervals, a disk 5, having notches at,

irregular intervals, a lever t5, having one end pivoted upon the shaft of said disks, a pawl pivoted upon said lever and having one end adapted to engage with the notches on the disk 4, and adjustable stop-pins adapted to engage with the arms on the T-shaped head of the pawl, with the pivoted lever F and its connecting-rod, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a disk 4, having upon its periphery a series of notches at regular intervals, a disk 5, having notches at irregular intervals, a lever 6, having one end pivoted upon the shaft of the disks, a pawl carried by said lever, a pivoted lever F, connected to the lever 6, a lever A2, an armature, and electro-magnet, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a disk having upon its periphery a series of notches at regular intervals, a disk 5, having notches at irregular intervals, a friction-wheel H6, connected with the notched disks, a pivoted lever 6, and diskpropelling pawl, and a retaining-pawl, substantially as and for the purpose described.

4. The combination of a disk having upon its periphery a series of notches at irregular intervals and a slot in its side, a disk 5, having a pin passing through said slot, a friction-wheel connected with the notched'disks, a spring bearing against said wheel, a retaining-pawl, a pivoted lever 6, and disk-propelling pawl, a pivoted lever F, and means for operating said lever, substantially as described.

5. The combination of a disk having upon its periphery a series of notches at regular intervals, a coiled spring wound upon its shaft to propel it in one direction, a disk having notches at irregular intervals, a retainingpawl to engage with said notches, a propelling-pawl, and lever 6, with the lever F, connected to the lever 6, and means to ac'tuate said leverI F, substantially as described.

G. The combination ot a disk having upon its periphery a series of notches at regular intervals, a coil-spring wound upon its shaft, a disk having notches at irregular intervals, a retaining-pawl, a propelling-pawl, and lever G, a pivoted lever F, connected with the pawllever 6, a dash-pot, a piston-rod connected to one end of the lever F and entering said dashpot, and a piston, substantially as and for the purpose described.

7. The combination of an electric circuit, a disk forming part of said circuit and having a series of notches at regular intervals, a contact upon said disk to actuate said circuit, and a stationary metallic connection in the path of said contact, a spring upon the shaft ot said disk with a disk having notches at irregular intervals, and means to actuate and retain the disks, substantially as described.

ICC

IIO

S. The combination of two wheels having teeth and notches in their periphery, the teeth upon one wheel being arranged to close the notches upon the other wheel, a spring acting upon one of said wheels, and a propelling and In testimony whereof I affix my Signature in retaining pawl, whereby the wheels are propresence of two witnesses'.

pelled and retained or not retained, aceordy ing to the relative positions of the teeth and XVILLIAM XV' ALEXANDER' notches on the two wheels permitting or not VitnesseS:

permitting' the pawl to enter the notches, sub- HENRY C. MURDOCK,

stantially as deserbexl.4 GARRETT ELLISON. 

